I know there's probobly already a thread on this but,
Recently while i was listening to the radio late at night one of those "Stay Teen" ads came on. It started off okay. It said the usual, "the only sure way not to get pregnant is to not have sex." That was fine, that was true.
But then they just had to had to ad this gem:
"1 in 3 girls gets pregnant before the age of 18"
WTF?
I though, yeah, in the world, counting all the countries where you get married when you're 15, are a grandparent by 30, and die when your 40.
But how could they put a ****ed up stat like that in an ad addressing American teenagers?
The reason teen pregnancy is so high isn't cause of sex, its cause teenagers are getting facts like "If you jump up and down after you won't get pregnant".
Feeding them more lies isn't gonna counteract that, its just gonna produce more ignorant (and horny) teenagers.
I have not seen the add, so I will reserve judgment on its contents.
That said, I am rather curious about your last statement. While you admit that girls who don't have sex don't get pregnant, you also assert that teen pregnancy is not resultant from teen sex. That is not logical. Unless you are arguing that some teen mothers become pregnant through artificial insemination, there can be no doubt that sex was the facilitating agency. If, on the other hand, you are asserting that better birth control education would solve the problem, you would again be proposing facts not in evidence, since abstinence is the only fool proof form of birth control.
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Yes abstinence is the only surefire way, but it is also the least fun. STDs can be passed from multiple kinds of sex (SURPRISE TAKE A STEP BACKWARDS!) and if a teen does not know about safe sex, then they can be swapped. In my opinion, the more you know- the further you go. (LULZ! Buzz words) The more education- or knowledge- anyone has, the better decisions they can make.
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But if all the kids who were having sex where using birth control and condoms the teen birth rate would be much lower than it is now.
I understand sex=babies, but kids have sex no matter what people tell them, and since people are telling them false things about pregnancy they're having unprotected sex which = more babies.
"Each year, almost 750,000 women aged 15-19 become pregnant. Overall, 75 pregnancies occur every year per 1,000 women aged 15-19; this rate has declined 36% since its peak in 1990."
Now it's been a while since I took a bio class but I'm relatively sure that sex has some involvement in pregnancy.
Naive 18 girls hungry of their first sexual experience . . . egad!
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In the Heaven I'm headed to/ There's a place for preachers, thieves and prostitutes/ Saints and soldiers, beggars, kings and renegades
I think you've hit the nail right on the head! You're right. Abstinence isn't much fun.
But if we consider how unwed pregnancy can destroy a girl's whole future -- not to mention the risk of deadly STDs -- it seems ridiculous to promote a "safer sex" approach that is anything BUT safe. Abstinance can work. I interact with people every day who live it.
As a Pastor, I am also the one who most frequently cares for couples who didn't wait for marriage and are now paying the price as their relationship comes unglued. The deal is simple enough: Play now, and pay later. Or pay now, and play for the rest of your life in the godly wonderland of biblical marriage.
__________________ Kalash Ibn Al Fewdawiiah Bin Noor
"Most books about science that are said to be written for the layman seek more to impress the reader . . . than to explain to him clearly and lucidly the elementary aims and methods"
Hehe. Still not seeing an overt religious connection here. But meh.
My two cents:
It's all well and good to parade abstinence as the best alternative for teens (it is, by and large) but you won't get any practical results with it because abstinence isn't something that is going to be universally practiced. And those with unwanted pregnancies are the ones least likely to be receptive to abstinence arguments.
Teen pregnancy comes about when teens have unprotected sex. It's technically true that the risk still exists when protection is used, but the percentages of it are so small as to be negligible. And it's when you get religious agendas that shun birth control promotion that you get uninformed teens and unprotected sex, and thus unwanted pregnancies.
Sex will happen at all developed ages. It's an ingrained biological imperative and not an immoral act. Promote birth control and the number of unwanted pregnancies and STDs would drop dramatically. But as long as religion decides to play moral policeman on our youth, they'll be increasing the totals of impoverished young women, unwanted babies, as well as increasing the totals of those pesky abortions they're always out to stop too.
I would be personally against sex at such a young age, though I don't consider it immoral, but my viewpoint is not a moral one but a realist one. We might as well be making the environment safe for those who do practice teen sex, rather than making it harder on them by imposing archaic religious morals on the general population.
Reminds me of an excerpt from a poem I wrote recently:
I believe that when “terrorists” really want
To kill us all, it won’t be anthrax
That is the downfall of the United States
But some STD capable of causing
Spontaneous, Instantaneous combustion.
I believe it is certain to spread coast to coast
Cause men would choose death
Over celibacy like certain crustaceans -
Tis’ a cruel fate.
__________________ "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." - Thomas Gray
KMC Community Forums
Mar 6th, 2008 01:59 AM
And this has what to do with the Religious forum?
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